WATCH: Anika Noni Rose Discusses the Importance of the ‘Roots’ Remake

Tony Award winning actress Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls, For Colored Girls) will star in the television series remake of Roots, premiering on the History Channel on Memorial Day. Rose will play “Kizzy,” the woman who is the foundation of the multi-generational story of an enslaved African-American family, based on Alex Haley‘s 1976 novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

In the above video, Rose candidly discusses why the Roots remake comes at the right time, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and refugee crisis.

“I think we’ve been lulled into a very dangerous place of thinking that we’ve come a lot further than we have. Now with the advent of social media, we are able to see a lot of injustice that’s going on in this country that we just didn’t know about, because we didn’t have the tools. ” – Anika Noni Rose

Roots will premiere on HISTORY Monday, May 30th and will air over four consecutive nights at 9 p.m. The four night, eight hour event series is a historical journey of one family and their will to survive, endure and ultimately carry on their legacy despite enormous hardship and inhumanity. Throughout the series, the family continues to face adversity while bearing witness and contributing to notable events in U.S. history, including the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slave uprisings and eventual emancipation.

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The HBR Media Team is a collective group of black women filmmakers, writers, and studio/network executives who are passionate about bringing visibility to women of African descent working in film and television.